Bulgaria at the Eurovision Song Contest

Balance sheet

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Broadcasting company

First participation

2005

Number of participations

12 (as of 2018)

Highest ranking

2 ( 2017 )

Highest Score

615 (2017)

Lowest Score

7 ( 2009 SF )

Points average (since first post)

129.17 (as of 2018)

Average points per voting country in the 12-point system

3.22 (as of 2018)

This article deals with the history of Bulgaria as a participant in the Eurovision Song Contest .

Regularity of participation and successes in competition

Kristian Kostow got Bulgaria's best result in the competition so far

Bulgaria first took part in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2005. The debut was not very successful. Kaffe only reached 19th place out of 25 in the semifinals and was therefore unable to qualify for the final. A year later, Mariana Popowa could not qualify for the final either. With place 17 out of 23, she achieved a similar result as Kaffe in 2005. In 2007 Bulgaria qualified for a final for the first time and was quite successful there. Eliza Todorowa & Stojan Jankulow took 5th place in the final for Bulgaria and with 157 points the highest number of points for the country so far. Despite this success, the following years were not very successful for Bulgaria.

In 2008 Deep Zone Project & DJ Balthazar failed to qualify for the finals again. In 2009 Bulgaria got its worst result in the competition so far. Krassimir Avramov only took third from last place in the semi-finals and with seven points also Bulgaria's lowest score in the competition. In 2010 Miro also reached third from last place in the semifinals and was therefore unable to qualify for the final. In 2011, 2012 and 2013 Bulgaria could not qualify for the final either. While the country took 12th place in the semifinals in 2011 and 2013, Sofi Marinowa took 11th place in 2012 and with 45 points the same number of points as Norway in the semifinals. Due to the rules of the EBU, Norway qualified for the final, as Bulgaria received eight points less often than Norway. Due to financial problems, the broadcaster BNT decided not to participate in 2014. Bulgaria also stayed on hold in 2015 because the government did not approve the funds required for participation.

In 2016, the country returned to the ESC, after which the country reached 2nd place in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2014 and even hosted the competition in 2015 . The return was very successful. Poli Genova qualified for the final, bringing Bulgaria back to the final for the first time in nine years. In the final, she then achieved Bulgaria's best result to date with fourth place. At 307, she even set a new record for the country. After this success, 2017 became even more successful. Kristian Kostow was also able to qualify for the final and, with 2nd place, got an even better placement than Poli Genowa in 2016. With 615 points, he also got even more points than Poli Genowa a year earlier. Bulgaria was able to qualify for the final again in 2018. Here, 14th place was only an average place. 2018 was also the first time that Bulgaria qualified for a final and did not get a place in the top five. Despite the successful years since 2016, the country had to cancel its participation for 2019 due to financial reasons. In 2020 Bulgaria returned to the competition, but this was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic .

In total, only three of the 12 contributions ended up in the left half of the table. In addition, the country missed the final a total of eight times, making it one of the countries that most often failed to qualify for the final. Only Belgium and the Netherlands with nine, Macedonia and Slovenia with ten each and Switzerland with eleven missed the finals have often failed in the semi-finals. In contrast, Bulgaria has never finished last. Thus, despite the success in recent years, Bulgaria is one of the less successful countries in competition.

List of posts

Color legend: - 1st place. - 2nd place. - 3rd place. - Equal points with last place. - Eliminated in the semifinals / in the qualification / in the Eastern European preliminary decision. - no participation / not qualified. - Cancellation of the Eurovision Song Contest.      

year	Interpreter	Title Music (M) and Text (T)	language	translation	final		Semi-final / qualification		National preliminary decision
					space	Points	space	Points
2005	Coffee Каффе	Lorraine M: Wesselin Ivanov; T: Vesselin Ivanov, Orlin Pavlov	English	-	Eliminated		19/25	49	National preliminary decision
2006	Mariana Popova Мариана Попова	Let Me Cry M: Dani Milew; T: Elina Gavrilova	English	Make me cry	Eliminated		17/23	36	National preliminary decision
2007	Eliza Todorowa & Stojan Jankulow Елица Тодорова & Стоян Янкулов	Water M: Eliza Todorowa , Stojan Jankulow ; T: Eliza Todorova	Bulgarian with English title	water	5/24	157	6/28	146	Pesen Na Evrovizija 2007
2008	Deep Zone Project & DJ Balthazar Дийп Зоун Проджект & Диджей Балтазар	DJ, Take Me Away M / T: Dian Sawow	English	DJ take me away	Eliminated		12/19	56	EuroBGVision 2008
2009	Krassimir Avramov Красимир Аврамов	Illusion M: Krassimir Avramow , William Tabanou; T: Krassimir Avramow , William Tabanou, Casie Tabanou	English	Appearance	Eliminated		16/18	7th	Be A Star & Bulgarian Song for Eurovision 2009
2010	Miro Миро	Angel si ti (You Are an Angel) Ангел си ти M / T: Miroslaw Kostadinow	Bulgarian, English	You're an angel	Eliminated		15/17	19th	Evrovizija 2010
2011	Poli Genova Поли Генова	Na inat На инат M / T: Poli Genowa , Sebastian Arman , Borislaw Milanow , David Bronner	Bulgarian	Despite	Eliminated		12/19	48	National preliminary decision
2012	Sofi Marinowa Софи Маринова	Love Unlimited M: Krum Georgiev, Yasen Kozev; T: Doni Vasilev	Bulgarian 1	Limitless love	Eliminated		11/18	45	Bylgarskata pesen za Evroviziya 2012
2013	Eliza Todorowa & Stojan Jankulow Елица Тодорова & Стоян Янкулов	Samo shampioni Само шампиони M / T: Eliza Todorowa , Kristian Talew	Bulgarian	Only winners	Eliminated		12/17	45	National preliminary decision
2014 2015	No participation
2016	Poli Genova Поли Генова	If Love Was a Crime M: Borislaw Milanow , Sebastian Arman , Joachim Persson; T: Borislaw Milanow , Sebastian Arman , Joachim Persson, Poli Genowa	English, Bulgarian	If love was a crime	4/26	307	5/18	220	internal selection
2017	Kristian Kostow Кристиан Костов	Beautiful Mess M / T: Borislaw Milanow , Sebastian Arman , Joacim Persson, Alexander V. Blay, Alex Omar, Kristian Kostow	English	Wonderful mess	2 / 26th	615	1/18	403	internal selection
2018	Equinox	Bones M / T: Borislaw Milanow , Trey Campbell, Joacim Persson, Dag Lundberg	English	bone	14/26	166	7/19	177	internal selection
2019	No participation
2020	Victoria Виктория	Tears Getting Sober M: Victoria Georgiewa , Borislaw Milanow , Lukas Oscar Janisch, Cornelia Wiebols; T: Victoria Georgiewa , Borislaw Milanow , Lukas Oscar Janisch	English	Tears become sober	Cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic by the EBU				internal selection
2021	Victoria Виктория								internal selection

¹2012 - with words in Turkish , Greek , Spanish , Serbo-Croatian , Romani , Italian , Azerbaijani , French , English and Arabic .

National preliminary decisions

Until 2013, all Bulgarian contributions were chosen in public preliminary decisions that took place under different systems. Since 2016, all contributions have been selected internally.

2005 to 2007

Between 2005 and 2007 there was a semi-final before the final. A jury of experts decided there and the final was decided by telephone vote. In 2005 there were allegations that Kaffe had already been determined as the winner in advance, which is why the duo Slawi Trifonow and Sofi Marinowa refused to sing their contribution in the live broadcast (but they still achieved second place).

2008 and 2009

In 2008 and 2009 (see Be A Star ) several quarterfinals were added to the Bulgarian preliminary decision. The televoting also decided the winner.

2011 and 2012

In 2011 there was only one broadcast, but with 19 performers. In 2012 there were two semi-finals before the actual final.

2010 and 2013

In 2010, however, the previously nominated Miro presented five songs in a broadcast, as did Eliza Todorowa and Stojan Jankulow 2013 with three titles.

languages

The majority of the Bulgarian contributions were sung in English. Only in 2007, 2011 and 2013 were the contributions sung completely in Bulgarian , with the song having an English title in 2007, which did not appear in the song itself. Sofi Marinowa's 2012 song Love Unlimited was performed mostly in Bulgarian, but contained lines of text in Turkish, Greek, Arabic, Spanish, Serbo-Croatian, French, Romani, English, Azerbaijani and Italian. There were only mixed Bulgarian-English versions in 2010 and 2016. Angel si ti (You Are an Angel) 2010 finally contained English as well as Bulgarian lines. The contribution from 2016, on the other hand, was sung in English and only contained a repeated Bulgarian sentence in the chorus.

There is also a purely English and Bulgarian version of Miro's 2010 contribution. However, Mariana Popowa also recorded a Bulgarian version of Let Me Cry (2006).

Scoring

The following countries received the most points from or awarded the most points to Bulgaria (as of 2018):

Most of the points awarded in the final space country Points 1  Greece 92 2  Armenia 70 3  Russia 54 4th  Azerbaijan 51 5  Ukraine 50

Most in the final received points space country Points 1  North Macedonia 59 2  Malta 52 3  United Kingdom 51  Cyprus 51 5  Albania 46

Most of the points awarded space country Points 1  Greece 112 2  Armenia 110 3  North Macedonia 109 4th  Turkey 096 5  Ukraine 095

Most total obtained points space country Points 1  North Macedonia 160 2  Cyprus 120 3  United Kingdom 099 4th  Albania 088  Ireland 088

Award of the highest rating

Since 2005 Bulgaria has awarded the highest number of points to ten different countries, four of which to Greece. In the semi-finals, on the other hand, Bulgaria awarded the highest number of points to 12 different countries, twice each to North Macedonia, Turkey and Ukraine.

Highest rating (final) year country Place (final) 2005  Greece 1 2006  Greece 9 2007  Greece 7th 2008  Germany 23 2009  Greece 7th 2010  Azerbaijan 5 2011  United Kingdom 11 2012  Serbia 3 2013  Azerbaijan 2 2014 2015 No participation 2016  Armenia (J) 7th  Russia (T) 3 2017  Austria (J) 16  France (T) 12 2018  Austria (J) 3  Cyprus (T) 2 2019 No participation 2020 Competition canceled

Highest rating (semi-finals) year country Place (semifinals) 2005  Belarus 13 2006  Russia 3 2007  North Macedonia 9 2008  Ukraine 1 2009  Turkey 2 2010  Turkey 1 2011  Denmark 2 2012  Serbia 2 2013  Azerbaijan 1 2014 2015 No participation 2016  Australia (J) 1  Ukraine (T) 2 2017  Austria (J) 7th  North Macedonia (T) 15th 2018  Belgium (J) 12  Cyprus (T) 2 2019 No participation 2020 Competition canceled

Impressions

• 

  Eliza Todorowa & Stojan Jankulow 2007

• 

  Deep Zone Project & DJ Balthazar 2008

• 

  Miro 2010

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  Poli Genova 2011

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  Sofi Marinova 2012

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  Eliza Todorowa & Stojan Jankulow 2013

• 

  Poli Genova 2016

• 

  Equinox 2018

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Sanjay (Sergio) Jiandani: Bulgaria: BNT will not participate in Copenhagen. In: esctoday.com. November 22, 2013, accessed July 17, 2018 . 
2. ↑ Sanjay (Sergio) Jiandani: Bulgaria: BNT Confirms participation in Euro Vision 2016. In: esctoday.com. October 15, 2015, accessed on July 17, 2018 . 
3. ^ Anthony Granger: Eurovision'19: October Deadline to Confirm Participation for Israel. In: eurovoix.com. August 30, 2018, accessed August 30, 2018 . 
4. ^ Roel Philips: Chaos in Bulgarian final won by Kaffe ( en ) In: esctoday.com . February 5, 2005. Archived from the original on January 13, 2009. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 28, 2011. 
5. ↑ diggiloo.net